Insights – archive

Traditional and Decentralised Finance: The Era of Convergence?

The view from Ascendant Strategy is that there is opportunity to make huge efficiency gains in TradFi based on concepts currently being “tested” in the DeFi world. This is as...
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Operational Resilience Article by Ascendant’s James Maxfield published by Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence

We hear much about the potential issues arising from energy shortages. The potential impact to Capital Markets Post Trade is huge and management committees should ensure that they have considered...
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Why stablecoin regulation is good

Read James Maxfield’s thoughts on this topic here. This article was originally published in Harrington Starr’s Financial Technologist magazine, available here.
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Ascendant Strategy on Harrington Starr’s Fintech Focus TV

Ascendant’s Alastair Rutherford talks with Harrington Starr’s Toby Babb on their Fintech Focus TV about collaboration in post-trade, and where digital assets might help to reduce inefficiencies in TradFi. Watch...
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The Future of Post Trade will be driven by collaboration, not isolation

Ascendant Strategy has consistently found that the majority – at least 60% – of post trade “total cost of ownership” (TCO) across operations and technology for its clients is made...
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Re-DeFi-ning the post trade landscape within capital markets

‘The industry spends $131 billion on post-trade settlement and servicing, driven by stubbornly high levels of inter- and intra-firm reconciliation, a lack of operational scale and an archaic and overly...
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Your Digital Assets Pathway for Post Trade

One of the fundamental challenges for any organisation trying to understand their digital asset future is how and what they are looking to offer. The emergence of this new asset...
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Ascendant Strategy are on the Financial Technologist magazine’s THE MOST INFLUENTIAL FINTECH FIRMS OF 2022

We are very proud to be on the list for the fourth year running! Don’t forget to check out Ascendant’s Alastair Rutherford article on the gritty topic of WHY POST...
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Ascendant Strategy contribute to the Asset Servicing Times

James Maxfield and Alastair Rutherford (Co-Chairs of the ISITC Europe CIC’s Post Trade Forum) and Gary Wright (Director of ISITC Europe CIC) talk to Asset Servicing Times’ Jenna Lomax about...
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Why The Rise of Digital Assets Will Transform Capital Markets Operating Models

The blockchain/crypto/digital/de-fi evolution of financial services continues to gather momentum – with industry commentators predicting business model disruption that delivers a banking industry that looks very different from today. But...
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Outlook 2022 – Who Will Make The Post Trade “Quantum Shift” in Capital Markets?

The pandemic shook off some of the inertia that has dogged the capital markets industry, but many organisations are still hamstrung by the inefficiency of their front to back operating...
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Building Operational Resilience – Does this finally create a ‘silver-bullet’ for post trade transformation within capital markets?

Having had six months to digest the policy guidance from UK supervisors around operational resilience, many organisations are still trying to understand what this means in practice. And as importantly,...
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Article by Ascendant’s James Maxfield published by Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence

As the topic of Operational Resilience becomes more and more prominent driven by Regulators’ activity, Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence asked Ascendant’s James Maxfield for his insights. See the document here....
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Why Front-to-Back Modernisation Agendas Fail in Financial Services – And How to Enable Success?

The evolution of financial services during the last decade was driven by an overwhelming tide of industry restructuring and regulation associated with fall-out from the 2008 crisis. This dominated management...
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Ascendant Strategy are on the Financial Technologist magazine’s THE MOST INFLUENTIAL FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES OF 2021

We are very proud to be on the list for the third year running! See the full magazine here, and don’t forget to check out Ascendant’s Alastair Rutherford on the...
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Outlook 2021: Post-trade Transformation – Why Digitalisation & Resilience of Operations Matters to CXO’s in 2021

Post-trade transformation still required? Was 2020 ‘Job done’ or just another year of only just getting away with it? What do CXOs need to do in 2021 to challenge complacency...
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Webinar – How Close is the Blockchain Revolution in Capital Markets?

Ascendant Strategy joined up again with The Realisation Group to take another look – 2 years on – at how DLT technology has impacted Post Trade in Capital Markets. Before,...
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Time For Another Reality Check – How Close Is The Blockchain Revolution In Capital Markets?

Will Blockchain revolutionise the post-trade environment in capital markets? Two years ago we were a bit sceptical… since then things have moved on and we’ve put the team back together...
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Creating Economic Value By Transforming The Collateral Management Journey

The economic imperative for collateral optimisation has taken centre stage over the last decade, as the increased regulatory requirement for collateralisation of products has led to higher demand for the...
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Building The Bridges of Post-Trade Pragmatism

Given the regulators’ increasing focus on resilience and the relentless economic pressures driving the need for greater efficiency, most firms recognise the need for action. But does the sheer size...
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The Economic Imperative for Post Trade Resilience in Capital Markets – Why & How

As the world reflects upon the impact of the last 6 months and starts to revise strategy based upon the ‘new normal’ that it now finds itself in, we look...
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Ascendant’s James Maxfield in The Financial Technologist Magazine’s Fintech Phoenix issue

See James’ thoughts on how Fintechs can leverage the current business environment – click here. To download the entire magazine – click here
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Solving for Post Trade Data – Enabling, Not Disabling Innovation within Capital Markets

Is the industry obsession with data as a panacea for inefficiency misguided and distracting focus from elsewhere? Or is the solution more complex than the C-suite are led to believe...
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The Future Of Custody – Evolving Through Innovation

The phrase ‘legacy technology’ often creates negative connotations for the capital markets industry as a whole, where it is perceived as a blocker for change. But what is often misunderstood...
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Article by Ascendant’s James Maxfield published in The Journal of Securities Operations and Custody

Ascendant’s James Maxfield was requested by the publication to capture his thoughts on Post Trade transformation. This paper was first published in the Journal of Securities Operations & Custody Volume...
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Ascendant Strategy on Harrington Starr’s Fintech Focus TV: Post trade outlook

Ascendant Strategy co-founder Alastair Rutherford sharing our outlook with Harrington Starr’s Toby Babb on their Fintech Focus TV  
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Ascendant Strategy Outlook article in Harrington Starr’s Financial Technology magazine

Harrington Starr’s recent Financial Technology magazine features their list of “THE MOST INFLUENTIAL FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES OF 2020” – and Ascendant Strategy are on that list. Here is the article...
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Ascendant Strategy named in Harrington Starr’s list of “The Most Influential Financial Technology Companies of 2020”

Ascendant Strategy are delighted to announce their inclusion in the list of  “The Most Influential Financial Technology Companies of 2020”. This coveted accolade is published in the Financial Technologist magazine...
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Evolution, not revolution, for custodians

Restructuring the business model of global custodians has been compared to changing a jet engine in mid-flight. Whilst the cost pressure on the capital markets industry has been well publicised,...
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Uncleared Margin Rules (UMR) – will you avoid the chaos?

Uncleared Margin Rules (UMR) have been put in place globally to mitigate credit exposures and reduce systemic risk in derivative markets Firms are required to calculate initial and variation margin...
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Outlook 2020 – Time for Real Post Trade Transformation Within Capital Markets

Many banks are facing the horror of ‘double jaws’ – decreasing revenue and increasing costs – taking some to a cost/income ratio of greater than 100%. With restructuring and rationalisation...
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ipushpull and Ascendant Strategy announce partnership to deliver Innovative Solutions for Post-trade Workflow Automation

London, UK – 18th July 2019: ipushpull, the live data sharing and real-time workflow automation platform, are delighted to announce a partnership that brings together the award-winning ipushpull platform with the...
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Unlocking the Post-Trade Puzzle: New Approaches to Solving the Issue of Operational Costs in the Post-Trade Environment

Unlocking the Post-Trade Puzzle: New Approaches to Solving the Issue of Operational Costs in the Post-Trade Environment Following the 2008 financial crisis, the US and European approaches to reforming the...
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Ascendant Strategy talk post-trade and fintech with Harrington Starr

Catch Ascendant Strategy co-founder James Maxfield talking Post Trade on Fintech Focus TV with Harrington Starr’s Toby Babb
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Ascendant Strategy named in “The Definitive List of the Most Influential Fintechs of 2019”

Ascendant Strategy are delighted to announce their inclusion in the “The Definitive List of the Most Influential Fintechs of 2019”. This coveted accolade is published in the Financial Technologist magazine...
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Time for a Reality Check: How Close is the Blockchain Revolution in Capital Markets?

Despite the frequent claims that blockchain is a ‘solution looking for a problem’, the past three years have seen nearly all major capital markets firms embarking on some form of...
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Uncleared Margin Rules – will you avoid the chaos?

• Uncleared Margin Rules (UMR) have been put in place globally to mitigate credit exposures and reduce systemic risk in derivative markets • Firms are required to calculate initial and...
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Transforming The Back Office – Delivering Value Through Capital Markets Transformation

An over-riding focus for the last decade for capital markets organisations has been a relentless appetite for efficiency. As the shape of the industry has changed, so have business models...
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Tackling The Post-Trade Processing Cost Of OTC Derivatives – Some Perspectives On Driving Efficiency

Balancing regulatory compliance with total cost of ownership (TCO) objectives has been a complex challenge for capital markets firms over the last decade. With infrastructure a by-product of organisational history,...
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Brexit Post Trade Infrastructure : How To Design For Success Within Capital Markets ?

In March 2017, 9 months after the UK voted in a referendum to leave the European Union, Theresa May triggered the official mechanism for making it a reality – by...
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